⚡️ cmai - commits that write themselves

What It Does

cmai analyzes your staged git changes and generates commit messages following your projects existing commit standards. Dynamically creating contextually appropriate messages in multiple languages.

• ⚡ Provider flexibility – supports OpenAI, Anthropic, and local Llama (via Ollama)
• 🧐 Smart commit generation – Context-aware messages from staged changes and git history
• 🏃 Fast workflow – terminal, interactive, clipboard output modes with cross-platform support
• ⚙️ Rule enforcement – define per-project or global rules to keep commits consistent
• 📝 Multiple suggestions – generate and regenerate commit options until one fits
• 🌍 Multi-language support – generate commits in 25+ languages
• 🗜️ Commitlint compatibility – works seamlessly with existing commitlint setups
• 🔒 Built-in safety – auto-redacts API keys, tokens, and secrets before sending to AI
• 📊 Git-aware – branch context, recent commit analysis, and large diff handling

Installation

pnpm add -g cmai
npm install -g cmai
yarn global add cmai

Try Without Installing

You can also run cmai without installing it globally using pnpx (or npx):

pnpx cmai init
npx cmai init

Quick Start Guide

git add .
cmai

Usage Modes

Mode	Description
clipboard	Copy to clipboard (default)
commit	Create a Git commit directly
terminal	Output a git commit command for editing
display	Show the messages only

General Usage

cmai init         # Set up provider and key
cmai settings     # Modify configuration
cmai              # Generate commit messages
cmai --dryrun     # Preview prompts before sending

Configuration

⚠️ Warning: Settings are stored on a per project basis under .cmai/settings.json. Since this directory contains your private key, please ensure it’s listed in your .gitignore.

{
  "provider": "OLLAMA",
  "maxCommitLength": 72,
  "commitChoicesCount": 8,
  "usageMode": "TERMINAL",
  "redactSensitiveData": true,
  "customRules": [
    "all commit messages must be lowercase"
  ],

Environment Variables

All settings can be overridden with environment variables:

CMAI_PROVIDER=ANTHROPIC
CMAI_MODEL=claude-3-haiku-20240307
CMAI_USAGE_MODE=COMMIT
CMAI_COMMIT_LANGUAGE=es

Development

Prerequisites

• node >=18.0.0
• pnpm 10.14.0 (corepack enable to install)
• SonarScanner (optional): brew install sonar-scanner
• Docker/OrbStack (optional): for testing GitHub Actions locally

Setup

pnpm install

# Development mode (auto-rebuild on changes)
pnpm dev

Available Commands

Core Development

pnpm dev              # Watch mode with concurrent build & typecheck
pnpm build            # Production build
pnpm test             # Run tests in watch mode
pnpm test:ci          # Run tests once (for CI)
pnpm test:coverage    # Generate coverage report (80% threshold)

Code Quality

pnpm lint             # Check code style
pnpm lint:fix         # Auto-fix style issues
pnpm typecheck        # TypeScript type checking
pnpm knip             # Find unused code/dependencies
pnpm knip:fix         # Remove unused dependencies

Analysis & Debugging

pnpm sonar:local      # SonarCloud (requires project SONAR_TOKEN)
pnpm bundle:stats     # Analyze bundle size
pnpm analyze          # Package content analysis
pnpm act              # Test GitHub Actions locally (needs Docker)

Release Process

pnpm release          # Interactive release with version bump & changelog
pnpm release:dry      # Preview release without publishing

Contributing

Contributions, issues, and feature requests are welcome. If you would like to get involved, please open an issue or submit a pull request to help improve the project.

License

This project is released under the MIT License. Created and maintained by Alex Whinfield.